


Bring Me to Life

by Delilah_Noir



Category: Original Work
Genre: Accidents, Gen, Ghosts, Magic, Temporary Character Death, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22216525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delilah_Noir/pseuds/Delilah_Noir
Summary: writing-prompt-s:Your friend ends up accidently murdering you while on a cave trek. You become a ghost, but you’re pissed at them for doing it. When you finally catch up with them, describe the weird interaction that you two have over what happened and how you’re gonna get past it.“Alex,” she seethes, arms crossed as she floats beside him. “If you don’t find a way to fix this I willmurderyou in your sleep.”“I said I was sorry!” He grunts, dragging her body behind him. “Give it a rest Sam, Jesus!”“Give it a rest?” She asks incredulously, “Give it arest?!I’m dead you jackass!” She tries to hit him but her hand just passes through his head. “And it’s your fault!”
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Bring Me to Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This prompt grew wildly out of hand and it’s been sitting on my computer for a while. I’m tired of looking at it, so here’s the first part. Enjoy. Also, I’ve changed it from a caving accident to a hiking accident. For reasons. The name is 100% my friend's fault, blame her and her enabling ways lol.

“Alex,” she seethes, arms crossed as she floats beside him. “If you don’t find a way to fix this I will _murder_ you in your sleep.”

“I said I was sorry!” He grunts, dragging her body behind him. “Give it a rest Sam, Jesus!”

“Give it a rest?” She asks incredulously, “Give it a _rest_?! I’m dead you jackass!” She tries to hit him but her hand just passes through his head. “And it’s your fault!”

Alex shudders at the clammy feeling. Being touched by a ghost was _not_ high on his list of things to do again. “Will you cut that out! I get that you’re mad, but we can fix this.”

“And how are you gonna do that huh?” She scoffs. “Last I checked _you_ couldn’t magically bring back the dead!”

He shrugs and heaves her body over his shoulder, finally off the cliff face and onto safer terrain. “Maybe _I_ can’t but there have to be some necromancers around somewhere.”

“Since when?” She asks, skeptical. “You know as well as I do that those kinds of magics were outlawed centuries ago.” She shoots him a narrow-eyed glare. “Or at least you _should_ with how often I tutor you.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah, we both know who the better student is and it’s not me.”

Sam huffs a reluctant laugh. “You’d do better if you would just pay attention. You’re a decent mage.”

He makes a face at her. “Can’t, professors are too boring.” He shrugs. “Besides I have you around.”

They walk together for a while in silence, slowly climbing down the mountain. The sun’s starting to get low in the sky. It would be beautiful if he weren’t hauling his best friend’s corpse around.

“Alex,” Sam says quietly as they get to the base of the trail, “I’m scared.”

He sighs, low and tired. “I know,” he turns to her, trying to smile, but it falls flat, “We’ll figure this out okay? I won’t leave you alone.”

She smiles back, it’s small and fragile but it’s there and that’s enough. “Besides, “ he teases, “Who’ll get me out of trouble if you’re not around?”

With a quiet laugh, she cuffs the back of his head. He can’t really feel it, but the cold and clammy feeling from earlier doesn’t come back so he takes it as a win.

When they finally get back to the car, a beat-up old powder blue Toyota Camry that’s been his pride and joy since high school, he opens the back door and gently lays Sam’s body inside. He makes sure her feet are out of the way before shutting the door and rounding to the driver’s side. He climbs in and puts the key in the ignition. He has to turn it over a couple times before the car starts, as usual, but it eventually rumbles to life.

Alex reaches over his shoulder to grab the seat belt and click himself in before looking at Sam in the passenger seat. “I guess telling you to wear your seat belt is kinda pointless now, huh?”

She scowls at him before crossing her arms and staring out the window. Silent treatment. He can deal with that.

He puts the car in reverse, backing up to turn around and go back up the dirt road they’d come down to get to the trail. Best hiking in town but a bitch to get to.

They’re about an hour out and if Alex has to spend this whole ride with Sam’s pissy silence he’ll go nuts. So he reaches for the radio and turns it on.

Immediately Sam groans in disgust. “Really? This shit again?”

“What? I happen to like Death M3t4l.” He doesn't, but that’s not really the point.

“You have _awful_ taste in music,” Sam laments, “Couldn’t you at least _try_ to have some class?”

Alex grins at her. “Nope!” He says, obnoxiously popping the ‘p’, “You’re just too picky.”

“I am not!” Sam sputters indignantly.

They bicker back and forth about music the whole ride back. It’s so normal for them that Alex could almost forget the body in the back and the fact that Sam is half-transparent next to him.

* * *

It’s dark by the time they get home. Which is helpful considering that Alex really shouldn’t be seen hauling around a dead body. What would the neighbors think?

At the moment he couldn’t care less, but he is exceedingly grateful that Sam’s parents left her a house before they died. He doesn’t even want to _think_ about how difficult this would’ve been if they lived in an apartment.

He groans as he drops her body on the couch before collapsing into the armchair. “You’re too heavy, might wanna think about cutting back on the deli cakes.”

She rolls her eyes at him. “Shut your damn mouth Alex, you know you eat more of old man Jenkins’ cakes than I do.”

He laughs. “I’d swear he made them with magic if I hadn’t seen him do it myself.”

She hums, not really paying attention as she examines her own body. It’s slumped over in what would really be an uncomfortable position if it weren’t dead, limbs all akimbo and head at an awkward angle. There’s some dried blood at the temple and several scratches and scrapes, and one or two of the fingers might be broken, but for the most part, the body looks fine. For a given definition of a dead body.

“We really should figure out what to do about this,” she waves her hand at it “At least until we can fix it.”

Alex groans. “Can’t it wait till morning?”

“No!” Sam snaps, “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not watch my body rot right in front of me, thank you very much!”

He makes a face. “Okay, yeah. I can see how that might be bad.” He sits up and takes a closer look. “You got some injuries falling down that hill. Want me to heal them?”

Sam shakes her head. “Healing spells don’t work on the dead.” She shoots him a sideways glance. “You’d know this if you ever bothered to study.”

He rolls his eyes at her. “Such a hardass,” he cards a hand through his hair. “So what are you thinking? Preservation spell?”

She nods. “That and maybe sticking it in the freezer. I don’t think we can be too careful.”

“‘Stick it in the freezer’ she says,” Alex scoffs. “I think you’re forgetting the fact that our freezer can barely hold more than a couple days of food. You are _not_ going to fit.”

“Then make one, moron.” Sam scowls at him. “There should be a box around here big enough for it. Or use one of the damn closets! It’s not that hard.”

He grumbles, pulling himself up with a dramatic sigh. “It’s gonna have to be one of the closets. No box in the house is big enough for you.” He starts rolling his sleeves back, shaking out his fingers. “Latin or Greek spell?”

“Latin,” she says quickly, “Your Greek is shit.”

Alex huffs a quiet protest before dutifully chanting the correct spell, smugly using perfect Latin. A brief golden glow flashes from the end of his fingers and over her body. It sinks into its skin before disappearing, leaving only a faint sheen behind.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Really? Gold?”

“Hey,” Says Alex, playfully affronted, “It’s not my fault the Romans liked their magic flashy.”

Sam shoots him a skeptical look. Alex grins back. She shakes her head fondly before floating over to the hall. “Which closet do you wanna use?”

He looks past her, hauling up her body without being asked, bridal style this time. “Your room probably. Less chance of someone deciding to poke around then.”

She nods, leading the way down the hall and easily passing through the door of her room. Sam didn’t think she’d ever get used to that. At least she hoped not.

The door swings open a few seconds later and Alex walks in. He carries Sam’s body over to the closet before gently setting it down, making sure it’s leaning against the wall. It probably won’t fall over.

“Anything you need to get out of here before we convert it to a walk-in freezer?” He asks, nonchalantly.

Sam shakes her head. “Nothing in there but clothes and shoes. Go ahead.”

He nods. Closing the door and facing it, Alex starts chanting again in Latin, this time a longer spell. She doesn’t catch all of it, too low for her to hear, but she’s pretty sure it’s semi-permanent. When he’s done, the same gold light from earlier passes from his hand and sinks into the door. Alex sighs as it disappears.

“If you just permanently turned my closet into a freezer, I’m gonna be pissed with you when this is over,” Sam says, conversational.

Alex laughs, face pressed to the door. “I didn’t. Once this is over I can take it off, but for now,” He cuts himself off with a yawn, “For now it’ll work.”

He stands up and stretches his arms out, Sam can hear his shoulders crack and she winces. “Go to bed.”

He shoots her a questioning look.

“You have work tomorrow.”

He nods, turning to leave but stopping at the door, looking at her over his shoulder. “You gonna be okay till morning?”

Sam smiles. “I’ll be fine. I’ll figure out something to do while I’m like this,” she gestures to herself, “Until you get up. Now go. Out of my room.”

He rolls his eyes at her again before leaving, shutting the door behind him. She sighs and looks up at the ceiling. Now to find out what she could do until morning.

* * *

The next morning, Alex was met with Sam’s face hanging upside down right outside his bedroom door. He shrieks and stumbles backward while Sam just cackles to herself.

“Sam!” He groans. “Not funny, I just got up.”

“God, your face!” She cackles, “The look on your face was priceless!”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” He grumbles, walking around her and down the hall to the kitchen. It was too early for this shit. He hadn’t even had his cereal yet.

With that in mind, he beelines straight for the fridge to grab the milk, then to the cupboard for a bowl and whatever sickly sweet sugar-cereal Sam decided to buy last time she went shopping. Lucky Charms, great.

Sam comes into the room as he starts in on his first bowl. “You couldn’t pick something tastier than this crap?” He asks through a mouthful of food.

She wrinkles her nose. “Okay, first, that’s disgusting. Chew with your mouth closed Alex.” He scowls at her, moodily munching on a marshmallow. “Second, what do you expect me to buy? Grape Nuts? Special K? I don’t think so. Besides, Lucky Charms are the best.”

“It’s pure sugar, your taste buds are crap.”

She raises an eyebrow. “You say as you shovel it into your mouth.” Alex makes a face at her and she rolls her eyes at him and they sit in companionable silence for a while. The clink of Alex’s spoon and crunch of his cereal the only noise.

When he’s done he puts the bowl and spoon in the sink and the milk back in the fridge. Sam makes a face at his dishes and he rolls his eyes. “I’ll wash them later. But I have to get to work soon.” Walking out of the kitchen, he scratches the back of his neck and stretches. “Did you think about what to do about all this while I was asleep?”

Sam follows him down the hall and to his room. “What makes you think I wasn’t asleep too?”

He shrugs, stripping out of his t-shirt and digging through his laundry pile for a clean-ish work shirt. “Everything I’ve read or heard about ghosts says they can’t sleep.” He looks at her over his shoulder. “And I’ve known you for years and you’ve _never_ been a morning person.”

“I resent that.” She says loftily, floating up to look at the dusty nicknacks Alex has on his shelf. He really should clean his room more.

He snorts. “Resent it all you want,” Turning back to his pile, he continues his search. “I’m the one that’s had to kick your ass outta bed _multiple_ times so you wouldn’t miss your midterms.”

She doesn’t say anything as he gets dressed, politely turning away to preserve what little modesty he had left.

Once Alex has his uniform on he pockets his keys and heads for the door, Sam floating sedately behind him. “I’ll see you when I get back.” He waves over his shoulder as he leaves, closing and locking the front door behind him.

Sam stares at the door for a while, floating in place. “Great,” She mutters to herself, “What am I supposed to do till then?”

* * *

At work, Alex is so preoccupied with the situation with Sam that the day seems to drag on forever. By the end of his shift, he’s almost ready to tear his hair out. It’s a relief when he can finally clock out and get away from the stupid little general store he works at. Screw customer service.

He gets home to find Sam glaring holes in the ceiling, floating on her back in mid-air. He sighs, toeing off his work shoes at the door and dropping his bag, he’ll pick it up later but right now he has to deal with a pissed off ghost.

“So,” he says casually, hands on his hips. “You trying to develop pyrokinesis or what?”

Sam grumbles mulishly. “No.”

“If you don’t talk to me I can’t help you,” Alex says, crossing his arms.

“The problem _is_ , “ She snaps, sharply falling down to eye level with him, “That I can’t _touch_ anything!”

He blinks. “Okay…?”

Gritting her teeth, she huffs out a frustrated breath. “I’ve been trying for _hours_ . I can’t even get a stupid piece of _paper_ to move.”

“So frustrating?” he asks, getting a dirty look in return, “Frustrating, got it.”

Sighing, Sam sits up and stands, or at least what approximates standing when you’re a ghost. 

Alex watches, a little bemused. “You’re getting better at the whole floating thing.”

She rolls her eyes and drifts into the kitchen. Alex follows, figuring that he might as well get something to eat. He grabs one of the frozen dinners they keep in the freezer and pops it in the microwave, setting the timer and hitting the start button. 

Leaning against the counter he watches Sam. “You come up with anything about your situation yet?”

She shrugs from where she’s reclining in the air across from him. “The only kind of magic I know of that can bring back the dead is necromancy. Which, as we all know, is highly illegal. There might be some blood magic that can work, but it’s probably archaic and also illegal.”

The microwave beeps and he pulls out his food, flipping over the chicken tenders before putting it back in for a second round. “What’s the problem with blood magic being archaic? It’s just old.”

Sam shakes her head and sighs. “No, old magic is old magic. Archaic magic is a whole other ball game.” She drifts down so she’s ‘sitting’ on the counter, normally one of her favorite spots. “Archaic magic is the stuff that’s half-forgotten, usually so ancient that it’s been completely lost. Blood magic is like that, most of what we know has been cobbled together from archeological digs and discoveries.”

“So?”

“ _So,_ “ she repeats, “Blood magic is considered highly unstable because no one has any idea what’ll happen if they use it.”

Alex nods, pulling out his cooked food and grabbing a fork from the drawer. He sits at the table and takes a bite of some of the chicken. “So, blood magic is out,” he says around a mouth full of food, “There’s still necromancy.”

Sam makes a face at him, but he ignores it. “What part of _highly illegal_ did you miss?”

He waves a hand at her flippantly. “Heard you the first time. But you wanna be alive again right?”

“Yeah…” She says, grudgingly.

“Death magic it is.” he takes another bite of his food. “You know where we can find a necromancer?”

“You’re asking me?” she waves a hand at herself, “Me, the skinny white blonde girl. Do I _look_ like I know where to find someone who uses illegal magic?”

Alex shrugs. “Doesn’t hurt to try, but I have no idea where to start looking either.”

“Your family wouldn’t happen to know anything would they?”

He laughs, it’s not a nice sound. “No, I can pretty much guarantee that they don’t. You know how they are, devout Catholics don’t believe in magic.” Frowning, he stabs his mashed potatoes a little harder than necessary. “It’s the _devil’s_ work.”

“Sorry, “ she says quietly, “Didn’t mean to upset you.”

Shaking his head, he doesn’t look at her. “Don’t worry about it.” He clears his throat and straightens his shoulders. “So, since we’re out one necromancer, it looks like one of us will have to learn.”

She lets his abrupt change of subject slide, giving him a skeptical look. “It would have to be you, I can’t use magic right now.”

“Have you tried?”

Her brow furrows in confusion. “Well, no.”

He grins at her. “You should! How cool would it be to say that you brought yourself back to life from beyond the grave?”

Rolling her eyes, she huffs a laugh. “Yeah and then be reported to the police and spend the rest of your life locked up because you committed a capital offense.”

“Worth it.” He laughs. Standing, he tosses his empty plate in the trash and the fork in the sink. “Now come on, let’s go watch some Netflix. I’m tired.”

Sam follows him as he goes to the living room, plopping down on the couch. “Only if I get to pick the movie this time.”

“No way! Your taste in movies suck.” Grabbing the remote he flips the tv on, opening the Netflix app.

“How dare you!” She grabs her chest in mock offense, “‘ _The Princess Bride’_ is a _classic_.”

“Yeah, if you’re a little old lady maybe.” Despite what he says, he scrolls over to it and hits play, starting it from the beginning. 

They settle in to watch, Sam quoting along constantly and Alex, pretending to be annoyed, joining in. It’s a nice night, all things considered.

* * *

They’re lucky enough that it’s a Friday and that neither of them has school or work that weekend. So they stay up late and watch movies until Alex passes out on the couch in the ratty t-shirt and boxers he uses as pajamas, having changed out of his work clothes after The Princess Bride.

He falls asleep in the middle of another movie, some ridiculous action spy thriller with terrible CGI, leaving Sam alone for the next several hours. It’s not how she’d prefer to spend her night, but she does learn that there are a _lot_ more spiders in the house than she thought.

Alex would _love_ that.

In the end, Sam just spends the night staring off into nothing. It doesn’t do much to pass the time, but there’s not much she _can_ do right now. It’s getting old fast. 

When the sun comes up she floats toward the window. It’s dawn and Alex probably won’t be up for a few more hours, so instead of bothering him, she examines herself in the sunlight instead. The effect is interesting. 

In the dark she glows faintly, her skin taking a washed-out blue-white tinge. Sam’s clothes took on that same coloring when she died, the dark red tank top and black shorts she’d been wearing before the accident bleached of most of their color. Her hair was even lighter now, closer to white than her normal blonde. 

When Sam stood under normal light, from a lamp or a light bulb, her appearance didn’t really change. In sunlight, she took on a shimmer effect. Turning her arm this way and that, she watched as the light bounced off her as if she was covered in tiny glitters or ice chips. Neat. 

Sam loses interest in staring at her own skin pretty quickly and she ends up resorting to sticking her head through the walls just to pass the time. She doesn’t find anything particularly interesting, no secret rooms or hidden bodies other than her own, which is disappointing but not unexpected. She does find more spiders though, there’s a small colony behind the wall in the guest bathroom.

When she exhausts that, running out of new places to explore, Sam decides to try her hand at some magic. Settling in the air above her bed, she starts chanting the incantation for a cleaning spell. It’s a simple spell, she’s used it hundreds of times before when she was too tired to clean her room by hand, and it’s perfect to test if she can still use magic.

She comes to the end of the incantation and wiggles her fingers the way she normally would when casting this particular spell. Nothing happens. Sam frowns, trying the spell again. Still nothing.

She tries to cast it again, concentrating on properly using her magic, but again nothing happens. Heaving a frustrated breath, Sam closes her eyes and focuses inward, trying to find the problem. 

She can still sense her magic, as usual, so the lack of it isn’t her problem. But when Sam tries to reach for it, she hits against some kind of barrier. She frowns again and pushes against the block. It doesn’t budge. When she pushes harder it pushes her back, her mental focus sliding away from the block like water through her fingers. 

Oh, this was not good.

Just as Sam is about to try to break through again, she hears Alex call for her from the living room. Opening her eyes, she finds the room much lighter than when she started. What in the world?

Alex calls for her again and she shakes her head. With a grace she normally doesn’t have she gets up from her lying position in mid-air to pass through her bedroom wall. Alex is still on the couch, rubbing one of his eyes.

“What?” She asks.

A big yawn cracks his jaw. “Nothin’, jus’ wanted to know where you were.” 

She crosses her arms in front of her, a frown crossing her face. “I can’t use magic.” She says bluntly.

Alex stops, looking up at her in bewilderment. “What?”

“I can’t use magic.”

“No, yeah, I heard that part. What do you mean you can’t use magic?”

Sam heaves a heavy sigh. “Exactly what you think it means. I tried to cast a spell just now, you know, the cleaning one, and nothing happened.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

Alex groans, covering his face with his hands. “This is just great. That means _I’ll_ have to cast whatever spell we find to bring you back to life. Ugh.” He looks at her through her fingers. “You’re a hundred percent sure you can’t use magic?”

“Yeah. When I tried there was something blocking me from it. Like I couldn’t touch it at all.”

He sighs, standing. “Well, I guess there goes that dream. I’m gonna go get some breakfast and a coffee.”

“You hate coffee.”

“Yeah, well,” he chuckles, “I figured I’m gonna need all the energy I can get to deal with this.”

He goes to the kitchen, Sam following behind and watching as he beelines for her coffee maker. She watches him fiddle with it for a moment before rolling her eyes. “I swear, you’re the most useless person in the kitchen that I’ve ever met.” Drifting closer she looks over his shoulder, reaching through him to point out one of the buttons. “It’s this one to start it and the one next to it to pop the top open.”

He shudders when she pulls back, her arm passing through his back. “Ugh, you have _got_ to stop doing that. It’s _weird_.”

“Don’t be such a baby.”

Alex sticks his tongue out at her before turning back around and starting the coffee maker properly this time. They’re quiet as it starts brewing and Alex reaches into one of the overhead cupboards and grabs out a box of strawberry-flavored Poptarts.

“You dick!” Sam cries. “ _That’s_ where you hid them?”

Laughing, Alex grabs a package, opening it and popping both of the pastries into the toaster. “Yup, how else was I supposed to have some for myself with your sweet tooth.”

“Not cool man, not cool. You know I don’t use those cupboards.”

“Uh-huh,” Alex says cheerfully. “Because you’re too short.”

Crossing her arms, Sam glares at him. “When this is over I’m gonna get you back. I’ll buy a whole new box just for me and eat them all in front of your face. That’ll show you.”

Alex laughs again. “Oh no! What am I gonna do?”

“Oh, hide and watch,” she says, watching him grab his food out of the toaster. “It’s coming.”

“Can’t wait, I’m quaking in my boots”

After Alex eats they spend the day lazing about, which means more Netflix and bickering from them, like any other weekend. It helps Sam feel a little more normal even as she’s floating beside Alex. It’s the little things.

Around mid-afternoon, Alex pauses the movie they’re watching, turning to face Sam. “Hey, you have work tomorrow right?”

She freezes eyes wide. “Oh shit yeah.” Abruptly she sits up, looking frantically at Alex. “What am I gonna do? I can’t go into work like this!”

“Hey, hey calm down. We’ll just call Mrs. Hanson and tell her you’ve come down with something.”

Shaking her head, Sam runs her fingers through her hair. “That’s not gonna work forever, you know it’s not! She’ll get suspicious and come over here and see me like this and then what Alex?! No one can know!”

“I’m with you on that, but we have to tell her something. You know how she is. Not to mention you have to do something about school.” 

Sam groans, burying her face in her hands. “This is a nightmare.”

Reaching over, Alex tries to pat her shoulder. His hand just slides through her, but she appreciates the effort. “We’ll figure something out…” He pauses, pensive.

She raises her head to look at him. “What?”

“Uh, it might not be the best solution, but don’t you have that aunt in like LA or something? The one that never calls?”

“Aunt _Josephine_?” She asks incredulously. “The flaky good for nothing mooch that my mom never let me meet because she was bad news?”

He nods. “That’s the one.”

“Let me get this straight, you want me to pin our hopes of not being discovered on _that_?”

“Just listen for a sec okay?” He says. “Your mom cut off all contact with her right? So no one really knows anything about her and you can just say she’s in the hospital for some medical emergency and that you have to go be with her.”

Sam stares at him for a minute. “That… might actually work. Wow, I’m impressed.”

Alex shrugs. “Not all of my ideas are bad ideas. You should totally trust me more.”

She snorts. “I’ll make sure to do that when you decide to set our kitchen on fire again.”

“That was one time!”

“Try three.” Sam laughs. Alex crosses his arms and pouts at her. She always thinks he looks like a kid when he does that. Shaking her head, Sam leans back and lets herself relax a little. “That solves that problem, but I’m still gonna need your help calling Mrs. Hanson.”

“Because of the no touchy thing?”

“Mmm-hmm. Can’t touch the phone so I can’t make a call.”

Nodding, Alex drops his arms. “Fair enough.” He says. “You wanna get that done now?”

“Sure, it’s what?” She looks at her watch (which still surprisingly worked even though she was dead) “About four o’clock? Mrs. Hanson should be home by now.”

“You have her number?” Alex asks, standing and stretching his arms above his head.

“Yeah, it’s in my phone.”

“Which is where?”

She drifts from the couch, floating up toward the ceiling. “Where ever you last left my bag.”

“Ugh,” Alex groans. “It’s out in the car.”

Sam watches as he turns, walking out the room and down the entryway. She hears the door open and then slam as he leaves the house. Sam hums to herself quietly and lets herself drift placidly through the air. She’s lounging half upside down by the time Alex returns.

He’s got her bag over one shoulder and drops it onto the couch when he gets to it, making it bounce. “Which pocket?”

“Left front, I think.”

Digging around for a moment, Alex finds the pocket she’s talking about and pulls out her phone. He types in the access code and starts scrolling through her contacts.

Kicking the air, Sam floats closer to him, looking over his shoulder. “Why am I not surprised that you know my passcode?”

Alex hums, tapping on Mrs. Hanson’s name when he comes to it to pull up her contact info. “Because you have no imagination and always use the same four numbers for everything.” She sticks her tongue out at him and he rolls his eyes as he starts calling Sam’s boss, switching it to speaker so Sam can talk to her.

The conversation goes about as well as expected. Mrs. Hanson is a little suspicious, what with this coming up out of the blue and involving a rarely mentioned aunt, but she’s understanding. Exactly what you’d expect from a woman her age. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s known the both of them since they were in diapers and practically watched them grow up. 

She tells Sam to take all the time she needs and that she could call her for anything. Sam thanks her profusely and lets Alex hang up, heaving a sigh of relief.

Tucking her phone back in her bag, Alex looks up at her. “Think she bought it?”

“I hope so, but you can never really tell with her.”

He plops down onto the couch, relaxing into the cushions. “She’s a crafty old woman.”

Sam chuckles. “No kidding. But that’s taken care of for now.”

Alex hums, grabbing the remote to start the movie back up.

* * *

The next morning, after another boring night for Sam and some sleep for Alex, they gather back in the living room for an impromptu planning session. Or, at least Alex does.

“So,” he says, walking back into the living room and plopping down on the couch.“How are we gonna learn necromancy.?”

Looking up from the spider she’d been studying in the corner, Sam floats over to him. “You’re asking me this why?”

Alex sends her a lazy grin. “You’re usually the one with all the ideas. So, what have you got.”

Sighing, she drifts down closer to the couch. “Honestly Alex, I have no clue. If it were something else we could probably find it online or in the library.”

“No go on either of those.” He says. “I’ve never seen a section helpfully marked death magic at either the town library or the one at school. We might be able to find something on the web, but I’d really rather not put myself on some kind of database if I can help it.”

She gives him a questioning look. “Database?”

“The FBI is always watching Sam.”

Rolling her eyes, she scoffs at him. “You’re just paranoid.”

“It ain’t paranoia if they actually _are_ out to get you.” He laughs. “But my point still stands, no internet.”

Sam shrugs. “Fine with me. But that still leaves us with this problem.”

He frowns, thoughtful. “There was a rumor a while ago that the school had an underground library. I heard there were all kinds of weird things kept there.”

“It was just a rumor.” She shakes her head. “Stupid shit to scare freshman, nothing serious.”

“Yeah, but those rumors had to start somewhere.”

Drifting closer, she raises an eyebrow at him. “You really wanna use a vague rumor as our only lead on legit necromancy?”

“It’s not like we have much else to go on right?” Shrugging, Alex looks up at her. “Besides, we go to one of the oldest magical universities in the country. There’s got to be something.”

“Okay,” Sam says, crossing her arms. “Say you’re right and there is some kind of secret library full of helpful how-to guides for forbidden magic. How are we going to find it?”

Alex gives her a crooked grin and Sam suddenly has a bad feeling. “Well, one of us is less than tangible right now.”

“Alex,” She groans, “You are not seriously telling me to literally haunt the school grounds.”

He grins wider, just a touch more shit-eating.

“Staying with you after I died was a mistake.”

* * *

It takes a good two weeks of late-night searching before Sam finds anything. Alex ends up more than a little sleep deprived since he has to drive her to the university. Ghosts apparently can’t travel at supernatural speeds on their own. Who knew?

She tries to take a methodical approach, but it’s tedious and boring work. It’s easy enough, all she has to do is sink through the ground, which was _weird_ the first few times, but she got over it quickly enough. It was _boring_ though, trawling through the dirt in near-complete darkness does not an exciting night make.

When she finally floats through a wall and into an actual underground library it nearly startles her half to death. Well, it would’ve if she weren’t already dead.

Gleefully she looks around, finding rows upon rows of old leather-bound books of all shapes and sizes. She can’t smell anything, but she’d bet her bottom dollar that the room reeks of old parchment and ink. Sam sighs. She’s a bookworm at heart and a room like this, secret libraries in general actually, was her kind of paradise.

It’s too bad she can’t do much about it right now.

Further investigation leads her to a huge cabinet, made of heavy wood and glass, filled with various vials. Most are filled with ingredients she’s never really seen before. Some of them are glowing. It’s pretty neat honestly.

She wanders away from the cabinet and finds another section filled with arcane tools. They look old and expensive, studded with precious metals and gemstones. Sam hadn’t just found a library, but a hidden treasure trove. Now they were getting somewhere!

When she figures she’s seen enough she lets herself float up through the ceiling. She’s pretty deep underground so it takes her a minute before she’s coming up through the ground near an old withered willow tree.

Looking around, Sam takes care to remember where she is - not far from the Arts building but away from the main campus - she does _not_ want to waste more time trying to find it again. Two weeks is enough for her, thank you very much.

She nods to herself before drifting towards the parking lot. It’s late, but Alex should still be here. He hasn’t left her behind yet.

Sam gets there to find Alex’s car just where she left it, Alex asleep in the driver’s seat. She feels a little bad, he has work in the morning after all, but it’s not enough to stop her from phasing into the car and loudly calling his name.

He jumps, blearily looking around and shooting her a sleepy glare when he sees her in the passenger seat. “What?” He asks, grumpily.

She grins, unrepentant. “I found it!”

Rubbing one of his eyes tiredly, he stretches. “Found what?”

“I found the library!”

That gets his attention. “What really?”

Sam nods. “Really.”

“So where is it?” He asks.

“You know that old willow tree, the one that’s half-dead?”

“Yeah.”

Sam grins. “It’s beneath it.”

He blinks. “No shit.”

Laughing, Sam reclines through the seat. “Honest to god. It’s like fifty feet straight down and it’s _huge_ Alex!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Alex!” She whines, “Be more excited about this, this is amazing!”

He yawns. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but it’s,” glancing at the clock he makes a face, “3:30 in the morning. Those of us who have a pulse and work in the morning should be in bed right now.”

Crossing her arms, Sam pouts at him.

Alex chuckles. “I promise I’ll jump for joy in the morning,” He twists the key in the ignition and the car roars to life. “But right now I’m driving us home and then I’m gonna fall right into bed.” Driving out of the parking lot, he turns onto the street and heads away from the university.

She huffs a laugh, uncrossing her arms and ‘sitting’ properly in the seat. “Fine, but after you get off work we’re totally celebrating.”

Alex smiles at her, the light from the passing street lamps lighting up his face. “Sounds like a plan.”

They’re quiet as he turns back to the road, but Sam can’t help but be excited. Finding the library might not be much, but it’s a start, and it’s more than she had this morning.

* * *

True to his word, Alex gets them home and falls into bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes or take his shoes off. He’s asleep before his head even hits the pillow.

It’s not nearly long enough before he’s jerked awake by his blaring alarm clock. Groaning he shoves his head under his pillow, hating everything. It doesn’t do much to block out the annoying whining.

Flapping his hand around, he manages to hit the snooze button, cutting the alarm off. He’s half tempted to go back to sleep, but it’s probably not a great idea. So Alex sighs and sits up, scrubbing a hand down his face.

It’s right about then that Sam floats into the room, looking smug. “I have to say, being on the other side of this is all kinds of satisfying.”

“Shut up Sam,” he groans.

She laughs at him, floating closer. “Get up Alex, it’s time for school.” She crows gleefully.

Alex scowls and she laughs again before disappearing through the wall. “Stupid ghosts,” he mutters to himself.

Standing, he strips out of his clothes, grimacing as he pulls his feet out of his shoes. He hated that squished feeling his toes got when he slept with them on, it was nasty, ugh. He really needed to stop pulling all-nighters.

He picks up his work clothes off the floor and takes a look at the clock. No time for a shower. With a sigh, he gets dressed before going over to the end table and turning off his alarm clock. Grabbing his keys and phone, he stuffs them in his pockets and walks out of his room.

Sam’s nowhere in sight, but that doesn’t mean much since she’s taken to hiding in the walls and jumping out randomly like a jerk. He casts a wary eye around but it won’t do much good, he knows from experience, so he moves quickly down the hall and into the living room. Thankfully Sam doesn’t jump out at him and he gets to the kitchen without incident.

He finds her there, staring at the space between the cupboards and the ceiling. Hearing him enter, she leans backward, looking at him upside down without turning around. “Charley had babies.”

“Oh god no,” He breathes, a cold shiver running down his spine. “I hope you’re aware that I am calling an exterminator as soon as you’re not dead anymore. You have found _way_ too many spiders around here and I am not okay.”

Floating closer she laughs. “Didn’t know you were such an arachnophobe.”

“I’m not,” Says Alex, grabbing a bag of chips and a banana, “But you try feeling safe when your roommate gleefully tells you about all the spiders in the house and they number into the hundreds.”

“Aww, poor baby.” She teases, flipping around to float feet first in the air.

He makes a face at her before walking out of the kitchen. “I’ll see you later,” He calls over his shoulder, “Heading to work.”

Shutting and locking the front door behind him, he walks down the patio and climbs into his car. Pulling out of the driveway, he sighs mournfully. He’s got a long day of work ahead of him and he is _not_ looking forward to it.

* * *

It’s a long, slow day at the general store. 

His boss decides to be an even bigger dick than usual, cussing him out and blaming the mess in the back on Alex. As if they both didn’t know the asshole’s daughter was to blame. He has to bite his tongue while he’s being yelled at. Losing his job isn’t an option right now.

So, with a cardboard smile, Alex nods and agrees, going to the back to clean up a mess that he didn’t make. He can’t wait to get out of this place.

The rest of the day passes at a glacial pace, but eventually the clock ticks down and his shift is over. He hurries to clock out before the manager can tell him to stay and books it out the door.

He comes home to find Sam bouncing through the air in excitement. Closing and locking the door behind him, he goes to his room, dropping his things on the bed and changing out of his work clothes. That finished, he walks back into the living room to deal with whatever Sam’s going on about.

“Alright,” He says, looking up at Sam with his hands on his hips “What is it?”

She grins at him, more than a little manic. “We found the library!”

“Yeah…”

“Alex! Come on, this is _amazing_! Who would’ve ever guessed there was a huge vault under the school?”

He chuckles, watching Sam bounce around. “Whoever came up with those rumors got pretty close. What all did you see in there anyway?”

Grinning, Sam floats closer to him. “A lot of books mostly. There were some cabinets filled with vials and a lot of old magical instruments too, but there have to be thousands of books down there.”

“Uh-huh, and I don’t suppose there were any helpful signs pointing you to the necromancy books?”

She shakes her head. “From what I could tell, no one’s been in there in years. Whoever used it last didn’t bother to clean up either so it’s kind of a mess.”

“Great,” Alex groans, “So we’re gonna have to spend forever searching through everything to find what we’re looking for.”

Sam laughs. “Yup!”

“There wouldn’t be any way you can go in there on your own an just leave me in the car?” Alex asks hopefully. “I’d really like to stop pulling all-nighters.”

“I don’t think so,” She says, thoughtful, “I still can’t pick anything up so you’ll have to be there to actually find and grab the books we need.”

“I thought you were working on that.”

“I am, look!” She floats over to the coffee table and reaches for the pen left lying on top. When she tries to grab it and pick it up her fingers slip right through, but the ped does wobble. “It’s not as easy as the movies make it out to be!”

Alex hums, watching the pen roll onto the floor. “You actually made it move though, so you’ve made some progress.”

“Not enough to smuggle heavy books around, that’s for sure.”

“Any way I can convince you to wait until you can?” Sam gives him a _look_ and Alex sighs. “That’s a no then.”

* * *

That night they’re back at the school and Sam is leading Alex to the old willow tree. When they get there, Sam starts stinking through the ground, but Alex stops her before she can get too far.

“Uh, you happen to see an entrance for people down there?”

Standing halfway in the ground, she looks at him sheepishly. “No?”

“Well, seeing as I do not have the ability to phase through walls, I’m gonna wait right here until you find the door.”

“Right,” she says, “I’ll be back with that.”

He watches as Sam disappears into the ground and sighs. Sitting down he leans against the willow tree and pulls out his phone. He has some research for a paper that he should be doing, but the games are more appealing. 

Alex struggles with himself for a minute before he opens up one of his puzzle games. There’s this one level that has been bothering him for forever, so he starts messing around on it. It’s just damn near impossible to get the stupid little ball into the hole it’s supposed to be in.

He loses track of time, so he doesn’t notice when Sam pops her head back up. When she calls his name he startles and looks down.

“Did you find anything?” He asks, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Sam nods. “Yup. Found an old door to a staircase and followed it up to the surface. There’s just one problem though.”

Alex gives her a suspicious look. “What?”

“Well,” She says, fiddling with her hair. “The top of the staircase is kinda in the dean’s office?”

“What do you mean kinda?”

“It’s behind a bookshelf that’s really a door. Looks like it hasn’t been used in years.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, talk about a cliche right?”

“Sam!” He yells and Sam winces. “How am I supposed to get into the _dean’s office_ in the middle of the night?”

She starts curling her hair around her fingers. “Uh, we could break-in?”

Alex scoffs. “Yeah, break into the dean’s office to get to a hidden library with possibly illegal books on magic. That won’t be suspicious _at all_.”

“I mean, we could try to get the key?”

“Sam, I don’t wanna go to jail for breaking and entering! Please tell me there’s another way to get into the library.”

She shrugs. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. I only saw the one door.”

Groaning, Alex buries his face in his knees. “Great, just great. I’m gonna have to break into the dean’s office. Wonderful.”

“Hey, didn’t you have that friend who was a kleptomaniac?”

He turns one eye to look at her. “What DJ?”

She nods. “Yeah, didn’t he get in trouble last year because he took something from the computer lab after everyone went home?”

“Sorta, he got caught up in some kind of hacking scam… That’s not important right now, but he might be able to help. DJ likes to have his fingers in anything that’s not strictly legal going on on campus.”

“So, would he have a key?”

Alex sits up, nodding reluctantly. “Probably, and if he doesn’t have one he probably knows where I could get one.”

“Then ask him.” She lifts herself out of the ground and starts heading for the car. “But, I don’t think we’ll be getting anything done here tonight.”

Alex gets up, scrambling to follow her. “That’s not the only problem here Sam! What about the security cameras? Or alarms? You don’t know if that door’s rigged to let someone know the moment it opens!”

“No, but I’m sure DJ could point you to someone that knows how to bypass all of that. If he doesn’t know himself.”

“Ugh,” Alex groans. “You are gonna get me in so much trouble.”

Sam smirks at him over her shoulder. “Consider it payback.”

* * *

It takes a few days for Alex to catch DJ alone. Between his job, classes, and Sam he’s pretty busy these days. DJ’s not exactly a loner either, always surrounded by some kind of posse or another. It was uncanny how easily he seemed to attract bored college students. Or maybe that was just the drugs and alcohol. Who knows?

“Hey, DJ, can we talk for a minute?” Alex asks, hand clapped on DJ’s shoulder and steers him to a secluded little corner.

DJ shrugs, looking at Alex over his shoulder. “Sure bro, whaddya need?”

“I need a favor.”

DJ laughs, showing off his yellow stained teeth and tongue piercing. “It’s about time my man! So, it’s 50 bucks a graham. That work for you?”

“What are you- no! It’s not about drugs DJ, god.”

“Don’t be so uptight man. We could all use a little something, know what I mean?” He runs his fingers through his greasy blonde hair before leaning against the wall. “So if it’s not drugs whatcha need?”

“Alright,” Alex says, nervously scratching the back of his neck. “Hypothetically, if I needed to break into the dean’s office, how would I do it?”

DJ stares at him for a moment before he grins. “Look at you,” He laughs. “Mr. Boy Scout’s goin’ bad!”

“Shh! Keep your voice down would you?”

“Okay, okay,” He says, “Don’t get your panties in a twist. Why do you even need this stuff anyway?”

Alex sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Can you help me or not?”

DJ shrugs, hands in his pockets. “Sure man, not like it’s that hard. The dean ain’t got much in the way of security, no cameras in his office or outside the window behind his desk. Only thing keeping you out is a lock on the door.”

“Are there any cameras in the hall?”

“Just the one by the elevator. If you wanna get in there easy take the stairwell. Those old cameras can’t see shit after the lights go off for the night.”

“Any kind of magical alarm system, wards or whatever?”

“Are you kidding?” DJ laughs, “That old man can’t tell a wand from a broomstick. There ain’t no way he’s got any of those.”

“You know where I can get a key?”

“My bud Mac’s probably got one.” DJ shrugs. “Or he could make one, guy likes to have access to anything he can get his hands on. But he don’t work with strangers.”

“Okay,” Alex cards his fingers through his hair. “You think you could ask him for me?”

“Sure, but it’ll cost you.”

“How much?”

DJ grins. “80 bucks.”

“80 bucks?!”

“Yep, you pay up or you’re on your own.”

Alex sighs. “Fine. But,” he interrupts as DJ holds out his hand, “You get it when I get that key.”

“What you don’t trust me?”

“No.”

“Oof,” DJ says, pressing his fist to his heart. “That hurts man.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “Save it for someone who gives a damn. I need that key DJ.”

“Geeze, you’re up to some shit huh?”

“You have no idea.”

DJ just shrugs. “Whatever man. I can get behind an easy eighty bucks. I’ll talk to Mac, shouldn’t take long.”

“Great,” Alex says, clapping him on the shoulder before turning to leave. “Thanks DJ.”

“Hey!” DJ calls after him, “If you get caught you didn’t get nothin’ from me!”

He waves his hand over his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah.”

Hopefully, DJ’s intel was good and Mac came through. Then half of his problems - well, not really, but he was trying to be optimistic here - would be taken care of. He’d check in with Sam when he got home, but until then he had a class to get to. And finals to study for. Which he hadn’t.

He was _screwed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these two, but they're an absolute mess. I have no idea when the next part is gonna be done, I've been stuck on it for a little while but hey, maybe this will help.
> 
> Let me know what you think. Then come yell at me on [tumblr](https://delilahnoir.tumblr.com/), I promise I don't bite.


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